Admission to the Roll: So, Now I Can Be Sued.....

My new mug for the office

I realise I have been away from blogging for a while.  The reasons for this are numerous: lack of time, involvement at work, general brain funk from thinking too hard.  The underlying reason for all these is simple: I wanted to get a job.

I will say that my firms retention rate this year was 100% - in fact, there were more jobs than trainees qualifying, and no-one got their second choice of position.  However, if you'd have said that to me back in November, I would have laughed at you.  The simple truth is that the recession has hit law firms hard, and the last couple of years have been really difficult for qualifying trainees.  Retention rates have been very low and there has been a lack of NQ jobs in the market.  This has now picked up, but the uncertainty adds to the pressure of the NQ process.

I don't think those outside the law (or indeed, those who have been in the profession a while) appreciate how much pressure trainees are placed under during the run up to qualification and the battle to secure an NQ position. From the start of the second year, the white elephant of potential unemployment starts to grow. Bottom line: your career is in the balance.  This may sound a little dramatic, but it is entirely true.  Your workload, firm, job security, wages are all dependent on securing that NQ position.  Getting the job offer can be the difference between making the first strides on the rest of your life, or scouring the adverts for a new firm.  If you add the fact that nearly all trainees have a large amount of financial debt, built from years of student living and training on wages that don't match the expected lifestyle, the potential of being thrown into the job market at little notice isn't particularly relaxing.

If you remove the question of employment, the question of practice area still remains; what do you want to do for the foreseeable future?  This is question is as loaded as when you were asked it after your A-levels, and for some is just as unanswerable.  Trainees hope that during the course of their training contract they have a romantic epiphany; they look across the room at a lone practice areas, the seats meet, electric energy charges the room and at that moment they know career satisfaction. They have found 'the one'.  I was actually surprised at how this happened at my firm, 4 out of the 7 of us (including me) fell in love with one of our second year seats.  The rest have positions but I don't sense the same passion in them - maybe their choice was fuelled by other motivations, perhaps they are just less verbally smitten.  What I do know is that there has been a visible release of tension in all of us since we signed on the dotted line.  I don't think any of us realised the stress we were putting ourselves under.

Personally, that stress was enormous.  I have been working for 7 years to get where I am now, struggling financially for the most part, constantly striving to do better, to stand out, to get ahead (I am writing this watching the Olympics and realise I sound like one of the athletes - took me down of my dramatic high horse a little!).  The ramp up of the pressure in the second year was one I wasn't expecting.  Looking back I realise I was stretching myself very thin - never saying no to anything, willingly burning the candles at both ends and travelling round the country to stay in my boss' good books.  I'm not complaining in the slightest - I was and am willing to do what it takes.  However, I don't underestimate what it did to my social life (what social life!), my interests (what interests?) and general health (what health? there's a pattern here....).  Coupled with this was my ability and drive to blog - it was the first casualty of my stress ridden life.

Trainees-in-waiting shouldn't be put off by this post.  Anyone who has got as far as the second year of their training contract and is serious about qualification is likely to be willing to put themselves through the stress.  It takes a certain type of person to become a lawyer - one of the personality traits tends to be a drive to do well is one of them (This can be based in ambition, arrogance, neurosis... they all have the same result!).  In all honesty, you don't realise its there until you get the job offer and it disappears.  Qualification is the anti-climax on the cake after signing your contract of employment.

I am happy to say I qualified last Wednesday. Let 1 August 2012 be set in stone as the first day of the rest of my life.  I am very proud of myself and currently very happy.  As yet, I have not been set upon by the stress of targets, billing, time recording etc - the general responsibility of the qualified solicitor.  And so I return to my neglected blog - for the time being.  I am now Miss NQ - please don't sue me!

Lawyers just won't ask the question: client permission to instruction lead marketing

He's not actually saying it........

Active marketing is not traditionally a strong point of law professionals. For some reason we simply don't like to be seen to be 'boasting'.  Passive marketing, i.e. showing our quality without actually talking about it, is easier to swallow and given we don't tend to actively promote ourselves, any opportunity to quietly big ourselves up should be taken. One passive marketing method is to talk about work we have won or big projects that we are involved with. The fact we have been instructed to do this work indicates we are good without actually saying it. Self promotion by implication.

However, there is an issue with talking about instructions: the code of conduct forbids it. We have a duty to our clients to keep their matters confidential and this is crucial in the client/lawyer relationship. The confidentiality rule prevents lawyers from even mentioning they are instructed without permission from the client as the work that lawyers undertake is often of a sensitive nature either commercially or personally.  In some practice areas, family or insolvency for example, I would not expect the client to give permission to divulge instructions as the areas are simply too sensitive. However in some commercial transactions the client may even benefit from the additional publicity.

I recently learnt that my Firm is instructed on some of the biggest planning and land development projects in the area. This is huge! However, the Firm has not advertised this internally let alone use it for marketing purposes. The projects are not commercially sensitive, all have planning permission now and most are actually looking for partners or businesses to invest or move into the premises once they are built. The projects are often on the news so they are not media shy. It seems odd that the Firm has not cashed in on these instructions, especially now the planning team are a little quiet.

It turns out that there is the classic confidentiality issue.  The planning lawyers have handed the client over to our property lawyers and neither set is willing to ask. Planning doesn't want to step on the toes of the property lot and property don't want to be so presumptuous so early in the relationship. What it boils down to is planning are losing out on a key marketing opportunity while it is still current. And this is not the first time a chance like this has passed us by; no-one thinks about marketing in advance.

It would seem sensible to me to ascertain the position of a client with regards promoting the firm from their instructions at the beginning of the relationship. It could be part of the client questionnaire, with a simple yes or no answer, similar to the data protection question firms now include. Obviously further permission as to the content of any release would need to be approved by the client to comply with the code but it would get the 'are they going to be offended' part of the dilemma out of the way. There would be less of that awkward feeling if clients had already agreed in principle to the idea.

Inclusion of a marketing orientated question early in the standard procedure may also cultivate a forward thinking culture within a firm. Lawyers would be encouraged to consider potential marketing opportunities at the beginning of a matter rather than when it is too late. Thinking about marketing in advance would benefit marketing departments too as it often takes some time to sign off publicity internally. Generally win win!

Unfortunately, this idea has not been taken forward by my Firm. Apparently it would cost too much!

An Interim Review Dictionary

It is the review season at my Firm; trainees have their mid seat reviews and the rest of the staff have their annual reviews. Even the partners have reviews with other partners (although I am lead to believe this is more 'boozy lunch with targets' than 'serious discussion'). The general format is there are many many forms to be filled out by all concerned which are then sent to HR and filed (read lost.... eaten... generally not looked at) based on attributes on a centralised 'expectations' database.

Each level within a role has a set of expectations which should be achieved before the staff member can progress. This sounds all very transparent and should facilitate easy goal setting discussions within teams. However, as with many processes that involve HR and potentially employment law aspects the expectations are so overly worded that serious review sessions (such as those with trainees) need a pre-review review to establish what they all mean!

Given that most trainees will have a review process, even if it is not so bureaucratic as ours, I thought I would explain some of the more obscure terms that came up in my review (N.B: not to be taken seriously)

1. Demonstrate understanding of the importance of managing time
All tasks must be done yesterday or earlier and understand this must be achieved within normal working hours. Requires an appreciation of the impossible and also some mind reading ability. Do not base your time keeping on that of your superiors.

2. Demonstrate professional behaviour and represent the Firm appropriately
DON'T GET DRUNK AT WORK.

3. Show willingness to help others and put in extra effort
Stay in the office as long as someone has something for you to do, even if it is helping the cleaners.

4. Display an ability to question findings
but not the findings of your superiors, colleagues or anyone better than you. Only your own. Especially when you are wrong (even if you are not).

5. Gain an understanding of client culture

Make sure you spot the dodgy ones and take them out for client meetings

Coupled with these gems are a speckling of expectations that I'm surprised the Firm considers it necessary to include:

6. Produce work that is easy to review (how could it be difficult to review?!)

7. Complete simple research (instead leaving it unfinished?)

8. Display knowledge (in graph format or would you prefer a presentation?)

9. Prompt timekeeping and good attendance (................................are we at school?)

10. Demonstrate an understanding of why you are carrying out work (??!?!?!)

If I am honest, the feed back in my first 3 months review was that I had ticked most of these boxes already. Not surprising really, given the height of the hoops - I hope this isn't the criteria my Firm chooses trainees!

Finally - the one that surely no-one can reach - Understand what is expected of you and confirm this with others....................................

Gym Bunny Epidemic Hits Lawyers

There is a peer pressure in my firm. It bubbles under the surface, from partner to post room and pushes even the most unsuspecting to rearrange their calendars to satisfy it. It inhabits the basement floor of the office and even is promoted as a 'perk' of working for the firm.

It is known as THE GYM.

I have never been particularly active, sports wise. My brief induction into the world of running gave me third degree burns (don't you dare tell me they were just blisters!!) and I am far too competitive for team sports. In uni the gym was that place I walked past on the way to the students union. As I researched career options, it never occurred to me that this would be an issue. In fact, in choosing the law I thought the drinking skills I acquired my local rugby club and cultured through uni would be my strong point. I think I may have been mistaken.

While investigating the 'Gym Bunny Epidemic' (ie they multiply like rabbits) I have discovered that post work drinks were rife before the move to 'The Modern Office on the Outskirts' so vogue with regional firms of a certain size. The old city centre location meant that long (boozy) lunches were a weekly occurrence rather than a special treat and no Friday was complete without a trip to the pub round the corner. Now instead of a sneaky pint at the end of a long day, the masses sweat it out in a circuits class or go running. No more discussion about which establishment to frequent at lunchtime but which form of exercise will be taken. Social events are much more likely to be one of the seemingly hundreds of sports leagues rather than payday drinks. At a recent open evening for Law Students the ability to talk to Partners and Supervisors while working out was cited as a bonus!

I would like to know when this transition occurred. It seems to have snuck up on me. But, not one to be left behind the times, I have faced my fitness short comings and I too have started gym going. Given my hectic life as a trainee it has been rather difficult to fit in but I have persevered. (for the last 2 weeks anyway...........)

Today, I took it one stage further. I visited with the Personal Trainer. The Personal Trainer is the a major contaminant in the Gym Bunny Epidemic. His enthusiasm is infectious and somehow he makes what I would consider a torture session a viable work out program. I can see how people get drawn in to this world of 'healthy' eating and exercise.

However, having visited the Personal Trainer and getting my custom built personalised fitness and diet regime I noticed the Gym Bunny Epidemic in full force. Following my rules I got out my rivita-and-ham snack bang on 11am as instructed. And suddenly noticed the alarming amounts of crispy-rye-wafer-and-sliced-pork elevenses that had also appeared around the office. This is not something I have noted previously as at 10.45am you would normally find me agonising over the cake selection in the Cafe.... but it was somewhat alarming

It has occurred to me that this mass eating exercising culture exhibits all the outwards signs of organised religion. There are the 10 commandments (thou shalt not where shoes with marking soles), sins (Carbs!!) and penance for temptation. The Personal Trainer attempts to convert those who have strayed and rewards the faithful with dedicated one on one sessions. The fully devoted look on those smoking in the bike sheds with the compassion and pity only the enlightened can bestow. But instead of the world war, prejudice and early Sunday mornings the results of Gym Bunnyism are better stamina, smaller waistlines and a longer life. 

They almost had me. Then I discovered that my twice weekly post work glass of rose was forbidden and I suddenly came to my senses. What was I thinking??!! Closest to conversion I have ever been......